Dearka & Miriallia

Author's Note: I'm evil, I know, but I love you guys. Review me quickly so I can toss up the next one. I'm writing it as you read this one probably. Lots of Hugs! Thanks again for the support everyone!

Disclaimer: It is obvious by now if I'm here that I do not own Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny or any other Gundam Series. But any characters I create to place in this world are mine (But I don't mind if you guys want to use them too. I have no problem with that. You don't even need to ask me. I enjoy sharing to make other stories the best they can be.)

Chapter 30

The Ceremony

Dearka and Yzak floated into the hanger and toward the shuttle. Dearka saw Cadey sitting with Annabella comfortably in her arms, making him cringe remembering how they had just been only hours before.

"Sorry, Belle wanted to go to her when she saw Cadey," Shiho apologized moving over to Yzak and Dearka.

"It's okay," Dearka said moving past her.

Shiho looked at Yzak in confusion.

"It's best not to ask," Yzak stated pushing himself into the shuttle as well.

"If you say so," she replied rolling her eyes.

Ian was really annoyed that he was going to the ceremony. He was always happy when he didn't have to attend these functions. In fact, he was grateful. But thanks to his best friend, he was being dragged along for the ride.

"You know she's crazy and yet you give in to her demands every time. Maybe you're the one who's crazy," he thought about himself.

Ian looked around feeling Yzak's eyes burrowing into his back from a few rows behind. He turned around to see Yzak's icy blue eyes narrowing in on him. He quickly flipped back around in his seat and hit Cadey.

"Hey, what was that for?" she asked.

"For dragging me into this," he replied.

"I just thought you might want to score points with Dearka's little slut in the future, that's all," she said sounding innocent.

"Right," he said mocking her.

"Look if everything goes according to plan, as it has been, you won't have to worry about Dearka for long. I promise," she smiled.

"This isn't going to hurt Miriallia again, is it?" he asked dreading her answer.

"I'm not going to hurt the slut, just teach her a lesson. Dearka may think he's free of me, but he'll come back. Just you wait and see," she said winking at Ian.

"You are still delusional. I think we should just leave them alone," he continued.

"No way. That tramp won't beat me this time around," Cadey said still smiling.

Ian turned around slightly to see Yzak was still glaring at him, but thankfully couldn't hear what he and Cadey were talking about.

"I hope you two aren't plotting something up there," Shiho yelled from her spot next to Yzak.

She had noticed how nervous Ian was thanks to all his fidgeting.

"You have got to be more cool and collected or you'll give us away," Cadey scolded.

"I just have a bad feeling about this," he replied.

"You don't even have to lift a finger, so sit back and wait for her to come running into your arms," Cadey answered his fear.

Dearka moved back up to front when he heard Shiho yell at Cadey and Ian. He had been suspicious from the moment he woke up from the second biggest mistake of his life. He floated in front of Cadey and Ian, forcing Ian's face to pale.

"So, what are you two up to?" Dearka coaxed.

"What makes you think we are up to something?" Cadey asked.

Dearka moved closer to her and Ian looked out the window trying to take her cool and collected advice.

"Because you are always up to something. And, Ian doesn't look that comfortable, so whatever it is, you've dragged him along for the ride again," Dearka replied.

"As I said this morning, you are paranoid," she snipped loud enough for Shiho to hear.

She looked over at Yzak and punched him in the arm.

"Hey, what the hell," he snapped at her.

"You are such a jerk sometimes," she huffed turning to face the front again.

Dearka looked up hearing Yzak's yelp from Shiho's attack. Yzak was now rubbing his arm trying to make sense of what just happened. Dearka smirked when he saw Shiho shaking her head at him. He knew she had figured out what happened finally from Cadey's mention of 'this morning' and was scolding him too.

"Not something I should be proud of, but it is funny to see Shiho so upset at me," he thought devilishly.

He jumped into the seat next to Cadey making Ian slink down in his seat further. He felt like a trapped rat. Dearka raised an eyebrow to him when he quickly turned his head seeing Dearka and flipped back out the window.

"You nervous about something Ian?" Dearka asked wickedly.

"Me? No, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Ian said without looking at him.

He continued to focus on the preparations outside the shuttle and Cadey rolled her eyes at him.

"You are so weak Ian," she thought.

She smiled at Dearka to avert his attention.

"Why are you sitting up here with us and not next to the other two musketeers?" she asked mocking him.

Dearka tilted his head with a smirk on his face. She definitely had a screwed up sense of humor. It was similar to his witty comebacks.

"I thought I would give them time to beat each other up and get out all their frustrations before we arrived at the ceremony," he stated.

He held his hands out for Annabella and Cadey clenched her tighter. Dearka raised his eyebrows at her action.

"Sorry, force of habit. I'm still a little attached to her," she said handing Annabella over.

"Thanks, but you have to remember she's not yours," Dearka said picking her up from Cadey's arms.

"I know that," she snipped.

Ian wished he didn't hear anything that was going on. He hated being around when the two of them talked about anything. The inflections in their voices were always like a sick seductive game even now that they said they were officially not together.

"Little does Dearka know he isn't really free," Ian thought.

"So Ian, you'll be able to handle Belle without a problem right?" Dearka asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. If you can do it, I'm sure I can figure it out," he said annoyed at the accusation Dearka had thrown his way.

"What do you think, that I'm incompetent or something?" Ian thought.

Dearka heard the attack Ian had tossed back, but decided to let it go. That is, for now at least.

"And you know what to do before Ezalia has a chance to…" Dearka started.

"Yeah, yeah. Pull Shiho away before Yzak's mom can tear her to shreds. I got it already," Ian snapped.

"All right. Relax, I was just checking," Dearka said calmly.

"So, are you planning on staying here with us the whole shuttle ride?" Cadey asked.

"You mean the whole half hour," Dearka mocked.

"It's long enough," Cadey replied.

"Yeah. Belle and I will stay here with you guys," Dearka said.

"She looks cute in that dress I got her," Cadey tried to create some small talk between them.

"Yeah, she does. Thanks," Dearka said.

They sat in silence after that for a few more moments.

"Did she eat breakfast?" Cadey asked.

"Uh, yeah, she did," Dearka answered.

Cadey's eyes fell and she looked at Ian who was rolling his. She elbowed him making him cry out in pain. Dearka hadn't seen what Cadey and Ian were doing but was surprised by his outburst.

"Hit my head," he said realizing how stupid it sounded.

Dearka shook his head at him.

"What an idiot," he thought.

An hour later…

The group was walking around Aprilius 1 trying to maneuver through the crowd.

"There are so many people here," Shiho said exasperated.

"It's a big event," Yzak said proudly.

"Yeah, well, you could have warned me," she snapped.

"I did," he reminded her.

Dearka laughed at the two of them before handing Annabella over to Ian.

"Here, just be careful with her," Dearka ordered.

Ian glared at him.

"I'm not going to steal her or anything," he said getting a shot in at Cadey.

Before she could hit him, she felt Dearka's hand grab her arm.

"Not while he has Belle. If you want to kill him later, by all means, who am I to stop you," he said furrowing his brow at Ian.

Ian smirked and walked away.

"Where's he going?" Yzak asked protectively.

Cadey, Shiho and Dearka turned to look at him in astonishment.

"What? I don't trust the guy," Yzak defended.

Shiho began to laugh at him.

"I think someone has grown quite fond of little Miss Elsman," Shiho teased.

Cadey now began to walk away too a little annoyed at hearing Shiho's voice.

"God, I really hate that girl," she thought.

"You going to follow her?" Yzak asked.

"Why? What damage can she do?" Dearka inquired.

"Maybe she and Ian were coming up with another way to take Belle from you," Yzak replied.

"Doubtful. Ian was doing his best to find Belle again for Mir's sake. I don't think he would go along with another one of her harebrained schemes," he said with hope.

"If you want to trust them, that's your choice, but for me, I'm going to keep my eye on them," Yzak said stomping off to find Ian and Annabella.

"Is it just me or is Yzak acting even more overprotective of my daughter than I am?" Dearka asked Shiho.

She shrugged before answering, "He will never admit it, but he's grown very attached to her in the past two and a half weeks."

Dearka smiled and followed after Yzak with Shiho with him.

"What were you thinking yesterday Dearka?" she asked him sincerely.

"That it was my only way to be free of her," he replied.

"I don't think you are as free as you think you are," she answered.

Dearka turned to look at her.

"Why do you think that?" he asked curiously.

"From the short time I've known her, I haven't trusted her. She's a conniving, sneaky, lying little witch," Shiho stated matter-of-factly.

"That she is," Dearka joked.

"It isn't funny and this isn't a game Dearka," she replied heatedly.

"I know that Shiho. But I also know she is even more than you think," Dearka said.

"And what's that?" she asked interested.

"Well, I also know she was a sweet, caring, loving young woman," he replied.

"Key word, was," Shiho answered.

"Maybe so, but I know she can be that person again. I can't give up on her. After all, I'm the one who made her this vindictive in the first place," Dearka stated.

"It isn't your fault. You can't blame yourself for her behavior," Shiho reasoned.

"Sure I can," he said smiling at her.

Shiho sighed at him. She had grown quite fond of Dearka herself through the years and was glad Yzak had such a close and loyal friend.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt," she answered.

"I won't," he replied still smiling.

Shiho looked around trying to locate Yzak when she noticed someone else walking through the crowd in a daze.

"Hey, isn't that Athrun?" she asked.

"Athrun? Where?" Dearka searched.

"Over there," Shiho pointed.

Dearka's eyes lit up with relief to see his old friend.

"It's about time," he thought.

"Hey who is that girl he is with? Wasn't he with Orb's representative?" she asked remembering one of Yzak's past rants.

"Uh, yeah. I don't know who she is," Dearka replied moving through the crowd.

"Let me guess, you are going to find out," she said following him.

"Didn't you say you were going to find Yzak," he asked.

She stopped following and stared at his advancing form.

"I can take a hint," she called to him before turning to look for Yzak again.

Dearka pushed through the crowd a little more forcefully now trying to reach Athrun before he lost him.

"Athrun," he called over a few people.

Athrun stopped and looked around.

"What's wrong?" Lunamaria asked.

"I thought I heard my name," he said unsurely.

Dearka pushed through the last person standing in his way.

"That's because you did," he said hearing Athrun's response.

Lunamaria's eyes lit up at the sight of Dearka.

"Dearka? Why are you…" he started.

"Last time I checked, I was required to come to these things still," he answered.

Athrun blushed sheepishly at his stupidity. It had been so long since he himself had done anything related to Council events forgetting Dearka was still in the position he had been in two years prior.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I just blanked for a minute," he replied.

"It happens," Dearka said.

Lunamaria was blushing herself while she got lost in Dearka's violet eyes.

"Uh, this is Lunamaria," Athrun remembered his colleague.

She quickly snapped out of her daze when she noticed Athrun waving his hand in front of her.

"Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Dearka," he said putting out his hand.

Lunamaria took his hand and shook it with a starry eyed look.

"You okay Lunamaria?" Athrun asked.

"Yeah, I just can't believe I'm meeting Dearka Elsman," she replied star struck.

Dearka was taken aback.

"I didn't know I was so famous," he answered.

"Pilot of the Buster Gundam during the last war. Defected to Orb and the Archangel at the Battle at the Orb Union mid June of 71. You were also one of the top guns at the Academy graduating end of September of 70. But I have to ask, why the uniform change," she replied spitting out all the facts about his war history and asking the most ominous question of his existence.

"Wow, that's kind of…creepy. And the uniform change is personal," he said wishing he had bit his tongue when he saw the disheartened look on her face.

"It's okay, I get that a lot. I memorized everything about the heroes of the last war and I've always been sort of nosey. Sorry," she replied trying to smile and letting go of his hand.

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize. In fact, I should apologize to you. I didn't mean be so rude," Dearka replied.

"It scared me too when she named things that I did. Turns out, we were her heroes in the last war," he said sweetly.

Lunamaria began to blush lightly.

"Hey, just because I idolize you guys, doesn't mean I can't hold my own," she joked.

"Really? Are you a pilot?" Dearka asked.

"As a matter of fact, I am. I'm the pilot of a ZGMF-1000/A1 Gunner Zaku Warrior," she said confidently.

"A woman after my own heart," Dearka said with a smirk.

"Hey, watch it Dearka. Don't you have someone else to use that charm on," Athrun warned.

"If you're talking about Miriallia, then yes," Dearka smiled.

Athrun's eyes widened.

"When did you see her?" Athrun asked curiously.

Lunamaria stood watching the looks on the two boys faces.

"Let me ask you this first. Did you ever plan on telling me?" Dearka inquired.

Athrun realized what he was asking him and began feeling a little uncomfortable.

"And what was I going to say to you? Hey, I know we haven't seen each other in ages, but guess what, that girl Mir that you were with…" Athrun stopped realizing Lunamaria was listening intently.

Dearka glared at him, more for his admittance that he did have a clue about Miriallia's position than that he had almost slipped with it.

"Look, it wasn't my place. Besides, Kira begged her to tell you, but she refused. She really believed you were going to come back for her," Athrun said solemnly.

"Let's just forget it. I just wanted to see if you knew. All though, I can't say I'm happy that you kept that from me. It's not like you had no way of contacting me," he stated.

Lunamaria was now officially confused, but made some mental notes for possible future use.

"I'm sorry, but I really didn't want to get involved. I guess I haven't changed that much," he said.

"To answer your question, I ran into her at San Juko. She got herself into a little bit of trouble and Ian helped her out of it. That's also where I found out, and it's been a whirlwind adventure from there," he said cryptically.

"So is she here somewhere?" Athrun asked looking around.

"Actually, no. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I had Yzak try to get a hold of you, but he said you didn't seem like you were in the mood to help. So, I'm asking you as a favor to an old friend. Will you get a hold of Kira for me? I need his help. I know you two are at odds again, but this is for Mir's sake," he pleaded.

Athrun lifted his head to that response.

"I can't," he replied.

"I don't get it. Why not?" Dearka demanded slightly irritated.

"It's not that he doesn't want to help you, it's that he really can't help you right now. You see, he is being watched like a hawk. They are pretty sure he is going to defect again," Lunamaria spoke up.

Dearka was getting confused.

"You see, Lunamaria was sent to spy on me, when Miriallia contacted Kira for me the first time. Cagalli and the Archangel are out there on Earth right now trying to stop this war. But unfortunately when they tried, one of our pilots fell due to the chaos and confusion on the battlefield. I wanted to find out why they were there, so I went. I just didn't know Lunamaria was sent out after me. She only told the things she needed to do her job anything else that may have been said, she has kept between us," he informed Dearka.

"What things did you leave out?" he asked directing his question to her.

"It's not worth getting involved again Dearka. You have your own problems to deal with. So why do you need Kira so desperately?" Athrun asked.

"Mir was kidnapped by the EAF and I don't know why or what they are planning to do with her. Well, that's not completely true, I think it was because of the pictures of the base at San Juko she took. But, I don't understand, why put out all the effort to track her down over a couple of pictures? They found her at her home outside of Rana. The worst part was that we had already destroyed the base, so there was nothing to protect anymore," Dearka answered.

Athrun had the look of concern written all over his face.

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything," he replied.

"I can help," Lunamaria chimed in.

Both the boys looked at her shaking their heads at her intrusion.

"What? There is no way Athrun can pull this off without my help," she said even more confident than before.

"Can I talk with Dearka alone for a minute Lunamaria?" Athrun asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure. I'll just be over by the fountain," she replied moving away from them.

Dearka looked at his friend now the one concerned.

"If Mir's gone, where is…" Athrun began to ask.

"She's here with me. That's the whirlwind adventure I was talking about. Cadey found out on the base about Mir and Belle the same time I found out about Belle. But, I didn't know she was there. She was hanging on to Belle when Mir was in the hospital wing but then just took off with her. She was on the run for over a month. Yzak helped me track her down. I've had Belle on the Voltaire with me ever since," Dearka filled him in.

"Wow," Athrun said amazed.

"I just have a horrible feeling that it's going to get worse before it gets better. I'm not even telling my parents yet. I can't afford to lose their support with everything else at a time like this," he replied.

"Yeah, I don't think you should either. But won't Cadey say something?" Athrun asked.

"No, we've come to…an understanding," he said pausing to find the best way to put it.

"I'll really see what I can do. I don't want to get Lunamaria involved, so I didn't want to agree in front of her," Athrun vowed.

"What's up with that girl anyway?" Dearka asked.

"Who? Lunamaria?" Athrun inquired.

"No the other pilot you're walking around the dedication ceremony with," Dearka mocked.

"I'm not walking around here with her. We're on a mission. There are two people from our team up in the surrounding space zone and she and I were assigned on the PLANT itself. Both machines are available if the need calls for it. It's just that this ceremony is so big and there really hasn't been any movement from the EAF, I can only imagine they were waiting for the right moment to strike," Athrun replied.

"And this would certainly be the right moment," Dearka finished.

"You may get your wish to talk to Kira if things get out of hand here. I'm sure if the EAF attacks, they will be somewhere in the vicinity. Word is the Eternal has been seen around. It's only a rumor, but I wouldn't doubt Andrew Waltfeld has something to do with it," Athrun informed Dearka.

"What happened to Cagalli?" Dearka asked.

"We're…I don't know," he said in confusion.

"Seems like neither one of us is having much luck," Dearka said with a smirk.

"Seems like," Athrun repeated looking through the crowd.

"I just wish I had some clue as to where Miriallia is and why they took her," Dearka said.

"I'll help you figure it out. I just have to get back to the Minerva again to have a chance at contacting the Archangel," Athrun said as they both looked on as the ceremony began.

End

Author's Preview: Ooohhh, Yzak and Shiho are coming up next, Ian is waiting in the wings to rescue her and Ezalia may even pick up on whom Belle resembles. So much to come and I'm having fun writing, so I'm going to work on the next chapter now. Please read and review for me so I can continue on my happy way.

Reviewer Response: Hello to all my wonderful reviewers. Thank you so much for all your support and reviews on all my chapters thus far. I love you all so much! Unfortunately due to possible changes in TOS (which is still unconfirmed) all responses are now located on my personal website. Please click on my profile page to link to the website. Thank you.